CHICKASAW, Alabama – The Chickasaw City Schools system has a $7.3 million budget for 2014, an 8 percent increase from last year because of more students on the rolls.

Enrollment is at 879 as the school system begins its second year, said Superintendent Kyle Kallhoff. The 2012-13 budget was based on funding for 670 students.

State revenues are expected to be $4.7 million, an increase of $700,000, according to Chris Arras, the school system’s chief financial officer. Federal funding shows a decrease of about 7 percent to $1,079,173, mainly because of sequestration, he said. Per-pupil spending is about $8,300.

About 80 percent of the budget goes to salaries and benefits, budgeted at $5,857,451.

In June, the school system was granted a waiver from the state to pay some of its debts and utilities out of the capital improvements fund, in order to reduce the amount taken from local funds.

The move allowed the system to move $100,000 into the reserve account for operating expenses, Arras said. State law requires districts to set aside at least one month’s worth of operating expenses, which is about $500,000 for Chickasaw.

Another belt-tightening measure came in the form of a joint purchasing agreement with the Satsuma and Saraland school systems, in an effort to keep costs down for large orders of cafeteria staples, janitorial supplies and diesel and gasoline.

The school system now has a 40-member junior varsity football team, the Chickasaw Chieftains, which will play Escambia County in its first home game at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29, at Dotson Park. Private donations and a contribution from the City of Chickasaw paid for a new scoreboard at the park.

State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, recently allocated $38,500 for performing arts programs in the schools, Kallhoff said. Of that, $25,000 will be used to begin a piano lab and $13,500 will be used to purchase instruments for the marching band.

Chickasaw city leaders originally wanted to split off from the Mobile County schools system to bring more of a sense of community to their town, Kallhoff said. The city’s students attended many different schools throughout the county, he said.

“When you have kids going to so many different schools, you have a loss of identity,” he said. “We want our students to have a sense of identity – we want them to be Chickasaw Chieftains and Thunderbirds.”